Technique for making box toes and counters



Dec. 15, 1%76 w, O JR 3,546,795

TECHNIQUE FOR MAKING BOX TOES AND COUNTERS Filed June 5 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 OF FLEXIBLE, SYNTHETIC RESIN TAPE Y PROVIDING A SUPPLY ROLL CUTTING A BOX TOE OR FIG.6 COUNTER BLANK FROM THE TAPE APPLYING THE BLANK TO SHOE UPPER HG. 7 WITH SUFFICIENT HEAT INVENTOR. To ADHERE THE BLANK ADDISON w. CLOSSON, JR.

TO THE UPPER BY FIG. I Ma:

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Dec. 15, 1970 A. w. CLOSSON, JR 3,546,795

TECHNIQUE FOR MAKING BOX TOES AND COUNTERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 5 INVENTOR. ADDISON W. CLOSSON-,JR

United States 3,546,795 TECHNIQUE FOR MAKING BOX TOES AND COUNTERS Addison W. Closson, J12, 30 Coolidge Ave., Cambridge, Mass. 02139 Filed June 5, 1968, Ser. No. 734,760 Int. Cl. A43d; A43!) U.S. Cl. 36-1 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Shoe box toes and counters are made by the steps of (1) providing a supply roll of synthetic resin box toe or counter tape, (2) cutting box toe or counter blanks from the tape, and (3) applying the blanks to shoe uppers with sufiicient heat or pressure to adhere the blank to the uppers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to the shoe box toe and counter construction. More particularly, it relates to a technique of making box toes or counters from synthetic resin materials that can be readily adhered to shoe uppers.

Prior art In order to make it possible for shoes to maintain their shape after they are worn, box toes and counter stiffeners are used. The use of box toes and counter stiffeners is especially important where shoes are made from canvas or other artificial material which do not have the strength and rigidity of leather.

Most footwear utilizes box toe material ranging in thickness from to 55 mils. Such box toe materials are applied to the vamp by means of cement solvent or heat and pressure.

Generally, box toe material of this type is made by saturating, coating, calendering or extruding synthetic resins into or onto a ply of textile carrier. The toe stiffening material must then be cut into individual blanks whose back edges are then skived or beveled into feather edges. This necessitates several handling operations and usually requires a sizable inventory of finished cut and skived box toes.

Several solutions have been propsed for overcoming some of the foregoing problems. One such solution involves the use of a machine which imprints thermoplastic resin onto the toe area of the shoe upper. While this has some merit, it lacks flexibility due to the various resin uptake characteristics of differing upper materials.

Another approach is suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 1,756,- 115 to Daly. Daly shows a rigid strip having a skived longitudinal edges from which box toes are cut. I have found that this arrangement is unsuitable because the strip is too stiff to be rolled up and dispensed in a convenient manner and it, therefore, of limited usefulness.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a technique for making box toes and counters which obviates the separate steps of forming and skiving the box toe material.

3,546,795 Patented Dec. 15, 1970 An additional object of the present invention is to provide a technique for making box toes and counters which economizes the use of box toe and counter material.

A further object is to provide an article that can be used as a starting material for eflicient construction of box toes or counters.

Yet another object of the present invention is to eliminate the need for a large stock of box toes and counter stiffeners in various sizes.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others thereof, which will be exemplified in the method hereinafter disclosed, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, my technique for making box toes and counter stiffeners for shoes involves cutting box toe or counter stiffener blanks from a supply roll of flexible synthetic resin tape. I then apply these blanks to shoe uppers with suflicient heat or pressure to cause bonding of the resin to the upper. Use of a flexible synthetic resin tape for the box toe or counter stiffener provides several advantages. First, it is simple and convenient to handle. Secondly, it is readily adherable as a part of the operation of applying it to the shoe upper. Such a system, therefore, substantially reduces the cost of shoe manufacture by shortening the in-process time for box toe and counter stiffener cutting and application of these to the shoe upper.

An adjunct to the use of a tape supply roll as box toe and counter stiffener material is the fact that box toes and counter stiffeners can be efficiently cut from the tape with a minimum of waste. This is done by cutting the box toe or counter blanks from the tape with the blanks alternately facing in laterally opposite directions. Moreover, a tape of one width is suitable for use in cutting several different sizes of box toes and counter stiffeners, thus obviating the need for storage of box toes and counter stiffeners in a wide range of sizes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating the steps of the method of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the top side of the tape of my invention, illustrating how box toes are cut from the tape to minimize waste material;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the tape of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the top side of the tape illustrating how counter stiffeners are laid out to minimize material Waste;

FIG. 5 illustrates the apparatus for cutting box toes or counters from my tape and transferring these to shoe uppers;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a die for cutting box toes from a tape; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a die for cutting box toe pairs from the tape.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Basically, my invention is an economical technique for cutting box toe or counter stiffener blanks and applying these to shoe uppers. The technique includes the steps illustrated in FIG. 1, namely, providing a supply roll of flexible synthetic resin tape 10, cutting a box toe or counter stiffener blank from the tape 12 and applying the blank to a shoe upper with sufficient heat or pressure to adhere the blank to the upper 14.

This technique is made possible by the use of a thin flexible tape 16 illustrated in FIGS. 2-4. The tape 16 is preferably skived at both edges as indicated at 18. It is automatically served from a roll (not shown) and fed to a machine 20 as illustrated in FIG. which cuts out the box toe blanks 22 (FIG. 1) or counter stiffener blanks 24 (FIG. 4). The cutting is done so that one edge of the tape 16 forms the rear edge of each blank 22 or 24. The skiving 18 then provides the proper bevel for the box toe or counter stiffener.

After the individual box toe blanks 22 are cut from the tape 16, the machine automatically positions them onto the upper whereupon they are sealed in place. This operation will be described more fully with respect to FIGS. 5-7.

The tape 16 may be made in various forms. It may even be in the form of a thermoplastic ribbon sufficiently thin so that the skived edges 18 are unnecessary. Specifically, when the tape is thin, the plastic will tend to flow during the heat sealing operation, making a feathered edge around the box toe or counter stiffener. If thick thermoplastic tape is used for box toes, beveled edges can be formed on the tape by heat and pressure by passing it through heated V-rolls, instead of skiving it.

If preferred, the tape 16 may be backed by a fabric. While the fabric may be either woven or nonwoven in form, it is preferably made from synthetic organic fibers so that if the tape is heated prior to cutting of the blanks, the cutting operation is facilitated by softening of the fiber backing as well as the tape itself.

Any of these various tape materials is suitably cut and applied to a shoe upper by means of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 5. Here, a strip of tape 16 is fed to a movable platen 26. The tape is held in position on the platen by means of suction through the manifolds 28. A die is elevated toward the platen 26 in order to cut a box toe or counter stiffener from the tape 16. The die 30 may be in the form of a single die 32, as shown in FIG. 6; or it may be a double die 34, as illustrated in FIG. 7, which cuts the box toes or counter stiffener in pairs.

Following cutting of the blank, the die 30 and its platform 36 are lowered and the platen 26 is moved to the right where another platen 38 carrying a shoe upper 40 is elevated up against the platen 26. This enables the box toe blank or counter stiffener blank to be adhered to the shoe upper 40. The die cutting of the blank and adhering of the blank to the shoe upper may be accelerated if the platen 26 is heated, for example, by means of a heating fluid flowing through the pipes 42. Alternatively, the platen 26 may be heated by electrical coils.

If the material of the tape will stick to the hot platen 26, it may be coated on its upper surface with an adhesive that adheres to the tape but not to the platen. For example, if the tape is made from Surlyn A (trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company for their ionomer resin consisting of polyethylene cross-linked by means of ionic grafted side chains), a suitable adhesive of this type is made by combining 30% carboxylated butadiene, 30% casein with 5% formaldehyde, 30% Surlyn D ionomer (a latex form of Surlyn A) and 10% of a filler such as ground walnut shells.

Thermoplastic box toes and counters can often beadhered to the uppers directly by means of heat and pressure. However, the temperatures required may be excessive with certain resins. In such cases, a hot melt adhesive that activates at a lower temperature may be used. For example, if the tape is of Surlyn A (above), the bottom surface (FIG. 5) may be coated with an adhesive comprising the following parts by weight:

Parts Surlyn D ionomer 13 Ethylene vinyl acetate (Du Ponts Elvax 260) 1O Tackifying resin (Hercules Chemical Co., Stabilite Ester 10) 14 Paraffin melting point 3 The Surlyn D promotes adhesion of the coating to the Surlyn A tape. It should be understood that in tailoring a hot melt adhesive for use with my tape, the adhesive should tackify at a temperature at which the tape is highly flexible, but well below the flowing point of the tape.

While thermoplastic tape has features which make it highly desirable for use in my technique, thermosetting resin tape may also be used. For example, the tape can be in a form which is not cross-linked but may contain a cross-linking catalyst that is activated only when the blanks are applied to the shoe uppers. This may be accomplished by the use of a heat-sensitive catalyst or, alternatively, the catalyst may be contained in small cells or microbubbles in the tape which are ruptured when pressure is applied to the tape.

It is to be noted that only the essential elements of this apparatus are illustrated in FIG. 5. The linkage that moves these elements may be purely mechanical as, for example, by the use of hell cranks and cams, or it may be electromechanical, using switches and relays to accomplish the proper sequence and timing of the various operations.

From the foregoing description, it is clear that my technique differs materially from existing techniques for cutting box toes and counter stifleners and applying them to shoe uppers. First, it eliminates the need for maintaining a large inventory of box toes and counters because the pieces can be cut from the tape as they are needed. The manufacturer need only keep a small supply of different width tapes to cover the shoe sizes in his line. Secondly, it minimizes the Waste of box toe or counter stiffener material which usually ocurs as the blanks are cut. Third, it eliminates the separate step of skiving.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above technique without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which,as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween- I claim:

.1. An article of manufacture comprising a roll of flexible tape, said tape consisting essentially of thermoplastic material and said tape having skived or beveled longitudinal edges whereby shoe box toes or counter blanks may be cut from said tape with said blanks alternately facing in laterally opposite directions and applied to shoe uppers without the need of additional skiving.

'2. An article as defined in claim 1 wherein said tape comprises, adherent thereto, a thermoplastic reinforcing fabric.

3. An article as defined in claim 1 wherein said tape is formed of a crosslinked poly(ethylene) resin of the ionomer type.

4. An article of manufacture comprising a flexible tape said tape consisting essentially of thermoplastic material and comprising, on at least one side thereof, an adhesive which melts below the temperature at which the said thermoplastic, of which said tape is constructed, flows.

5. An article as defined in claim 4 wherein said thermoplastic tape comprises a thermoplastic reinforcing fabric.

6. An article as defined in claim 4 wherein said tape is formed of a crosslinked poly(ethylene) resin of the ionomer type.

7. An article as defined in claim 5 wherein said tape is formed of a crosslinked p0ly(ethylene) resin of the ionomer type.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1927 Daly 12-146 8/1938 Reynolds 12-146 3/1965 Field 12146X 1/1875 Rogers 12146 5/1960 Heaton 12146 5/1967 Chaplick et a1 12-146 US. Cl. 

